1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a management device for image processing devices connected on a network, an image processing device, management method, programs and recording media.
2. Description of the Related Art
Interest in environmental issues has increased in recent years, and many enterprises are struggling to obtain certification for the environment management system standard (e.g., ISO14000). Obtaining certification for this standard requires reducing the power consumption of all image processing devices such as copiers, printers, scanners and the like connected to a network, and various proposals have been made to this end.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,029,239 discloses art for acquiring the rated power consumption of a plurality of image forming apparatuses connected on a network, and issuing jobs to the image forming apparatus having the lowest running cost based on the acquired ratings.
Conventionally, only a single image forming apparatus is selected based on the rated power consumption, e.g., when a job is processed using a plurality of image processing devices such as when copying on a network using scanners and printers connected to the network, the processing of the job cannot be applied to all devices.